In the months leading up to this week’s Supreme Court decision on affirmative action, a public opinion poll by ABC News and the Washington Post showed that 76 percent of Americans oppose affirmative action in college admissions. However, a poll conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute showed that 68 percent of Americans favor the […]
Author Archives: George E. Curry
NNPA Editor-in-Chief
Posted inAfro Briefs
Eliminating Affirmative Action Would Hurt Black Enrollment
Whenever states have eliminated affirmative action in the past, a decline in Black college enrollment has followed that decision, a study by The Civil Rights Project at the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) shows. Rather than make a definitive ruling on a case involving the University of Texas, on Monday the United States Supreme Court sent the case back to […]
Posted inNational News
Despite Supreme Court Ruling, Voting Abuses Still Widespread
WASHINGTON (NNPA) – The Supreme Court upheld the legality of the 1965 Voting Rights Act on Tuesday, but said it can’t be enforced until Congress updates the way it determines which jurisdictions are covered under Section 5, the provision the requires preclearance by the Justice Department or a federal court before changes to local voting […]
Posted inNational News
Zimmerman’s Team will Seek to Discredit Trayvon Martin
WASHINGTON (NNPA) – Whether George Zimmerman goes on trial as scheduled June 10 for killing Trayvon Martin or he gets the 6-week delay requested by his lawyer, it is clear from court filings that part of the defense strategy involves depicting the 17-year-old dead Black youth as a troublemaker and pot head. Martin, unarmed, was […]
Posted inNational News
Zimbabwe on Path to Regain International Acceptance
HARARE, Zimbabwe (NNPA) – The United States has signaled that it is moving toward normalizing relations with Zimbabwe, the former White minority-rule nation once known as Rhodesia. In March, former United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young was dispatched by the Obama administration to meet with President Robert Mugabe. After the meeting, Young told reporters that the […]
Posted inCommentary
Remembering How Black South Africans Won their Freedom
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – A trip to South Africa provides painful reminders of the protracted struggle to establish democracy, how the United States propped up the White minority-rule government and the courage Black South Africans demonstrated to win their freedom. A key aspect of the struggle is vividly captured in the Hector Pieterson Memorial Museum […]
Posted inCommentary
The Boston Marathon’s Media Frenzy
I am a certified news junkie, but even I had to step away from the oversaturated media coverage of the Boston Marathon bombings. Anyone who has covered crimes on a smaller scale than the twin explosions in Boston knows that investigators don’t have instant answers for everything and it’s ridiculous to think that in a […]
Posted inCommentary
Political Maneuvering over the Budget
There has been much discussion about the big picture items in President Obama’s proposed budget for fiscal 2014. If the devil is in the details, as politicians like to say, some parts of Obama’s budget will mean hell for some needy citizens. Before getting into the details, let’s talk approach. As I have often said, […]
Posted inAfro Briefs
Education Chief: Schools Failing Black Students
WASHINGTON (NNPA) – Instead of being the traditional ticket to success, many of our nation’s troubled schools hinder opportunity for upward mobility, especially for students of color, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told Black publishers in a private meeting last week. “The hard truth, the brutal truth, is that in too many places, our education […]
Posted inNational News
China Prepares to Become the World’s Largest Economy
SHANGHAI (NNPA) – In less than 15 years, according to projections by investment banking firm Goldman Sachs and the United States National Intelligence Council, China will overtake the United States as the world’s largest economy. And that dramatic shift has touched off a guessing game about what the dramatic shift will mean for the U.S. […]
Posted inNational News
China in Denial about its Race Problem
BEIJING (NNPA) – In absolute numbers, China probably has more beautiful women than any other country in the world. But one could never tell that by looking at the squeaky-clean glass display windows in upscale stores in this capital city or in Shanghai, whose architecture has been often compared to London, Paris and Rio. The […]
Posted inNational News
Life in China: From Fusion Cuisine to Live Snakes
BEIJING (NNPA) – When Julia Wilson visited China for the first time in 2002, no one had to tell the former Los Angeles television reporter why China was known as “the Kingdom of Bikes.” Wilson, who is CEO of Washington, D.C.-based Wilson Global Communications, said: “It was so different, especially with the bicycles. Imagine rush […]